Voterama in Congress: June 30

Published: Sunday, June 30, 2013 at 8:55 a.m.

Last Modified: Sunday, June 30, 2013 at 8:55 a.m.

Here’s how North Carolina members of Congress voted on major issues in the week ending June 28.

House

OIL DRILLING, FINANCIAL RULES:

Voting 256 for and 171 against, the House on June 27 passed a Republican bill (HR 1613) to implement a Gulf of Mexico deepwaterdrilling treaty in a way that would exempt U.S. oil companies from transparency rules in the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial-regulation law. Those rules require companies to publicly disclose how much they pay the U.S. government or foreign governments for rights to extract oil, gas and minerals. They are included in a pact signed by the U.S. and Mexico in February 2012 to open 1.5 million acres spanning their nautical boundary in the western gulf to energy development. Sponsors of this bill said the rules could put U.S. oil firms at a disadvantage in their bidding for leases under the treaty, while opponents noted that Pemex, Mexico’s stateowned oil company, will be subject to the same disclosure requirements.

A yes vote was to pass the GOP bill.

Voting yes: Republicans Renee Ellmers, Virginia Foxx, Howard Coble, Richard Hudson, Robert Pittenger, Patrick McHenry, Mark Meadows and George Holding, and Democrat Mike McIntyre Voting no: Democrats G.K. Butterfield, David Price and Melvin Watt, and Republican Walter Jones BP OIL-SPILL LESSONS: Voting 194 for and 232 against, the House on June 27 defeated a bid to ensure that safety lessons from the BP-Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 are applied to deepwater drilling in the western gulf that occurs under HR 1613 (above). This motion by Democrats also sought to require companies responsible for spills to pay all cleanup costs. The U.S.-Mexico treaty at the heat of the bill allows each nation to answer to its own environmental and safety laws. Some U.S. regulations already have been toughened in response to BP’s spill of nearly five million barrels of oil into the gulf over 87 days three years ago, the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history.

A yes vote backed the Democratic motion.

Voting yes: Butterfield, Jones, Price, McIntyre, Watt Voting no: Ellmers, Foxx, Coble, Hudson, Pittenger, McHenry, Meadows, Holding EXPANDED OFFSHORE DRILLING: Voting 235 for and 186 against, the House on June 28 passed a bill (HR 2231) requiring expanded drilling in Outer Continental Shelf areas thought to have some of America’s most promising oil and gas deposits, with nearby states receiving 37.5 percent of royalties paid to the Treasury. The bill also requires drilling in specific tracts offshore from Virginia and South Carolina and lifts longstanding federal bans on drilling in Alaska’s Bristol Bay and offshore from Santa Barbara and Ventura counties in California. Depending on the state, the Outer Continental Shelf usually begins three-tonine nautical miles from shore and reaches outward for at least 200 nautical miles.

Not voting: Coble GREAT LAKES DRILLING BAN: Voting 195 for and 225 against, the House on June 28 defeated a Democratic attempt to bar HR 2231 (above) from authorizing oil and gas drilling in the Great Lakes, which are comprised of lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario. Although the bill deals mainly with Outer Continental Shelf drilling and contains no mention of the Great Lakes, backers of this motion said it contains language sufficiently broad to lead to possible drilling in these inland waters.

A yes vote was to bar drilling in the Great Lakes.

Voting yes: Butterfield, Price, McIntyre, Watt

Voting no: Ellmers, Jones, Foxx, Hudson, Pittenger, McHenry, Meadows, Holding Not voting: Coble BRISTOL BAY MORATORIUM: Voting 183 for and 235 against, the House on June 28 defeated a bid to strip HR 2231 (above) of its mandate for oil and gas drilling in Bristol Bay on Alaska’s southwest coast. The amendment sought to keep in force a moratorium imposed after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska’s Prince William Sound in 1989. President Bush lifted the moratorium in 2007 and President Obama reinstated it in 2009. A yes vote was to retain the drilling moratorium.

Voting yes: Butterfield, Price, Watt

Voting no: Ellmers, Jones, Foxx, McIntyre, Hudson, Pittenger, McHenry, Meadows, Holding Not voting: Coble SANTA BARBARA MORATORIUM: Voting 176 for and 241 against, the House on June 28 defeated a bid to strip HR 2231 (above) of its language to lift a moratorium on oil and gas drilling offshore from Santa Barbara and Ventura counties in southern Californ1a. The ban was imposed after a major oil spill in that area in 1969.

IMMIGRATION OVERHAUL: Voting 68 for and 32 against, the Senate on June 27 sent the House a bill (S 744) that would create a 13-year route to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. by the end of 2011; surge law enforcement and electronic surveillance on the U.S.-Mexico border; tighten the Canadian border; crack down on foreign visitors who overstay their visas; require all states to adopt the E-Verify system by which employers check on the legality of new workers; streamline family visas to reduce backlogs in reuniting kin in the U.S.; establish new or streamlined employment visas for low-skilled and high-tech workers and create a new program for temporarily admitting 112,000 or more seasonal farm workers each year.

The Congressional Budget Office projects the bill would reduce deficits by $197 billion in the first 10 years, mainly due to fees, penalties and taxes such as Social Security withholding that immigrants would send to the Treasury while pursuing legal status..

For undocumented immigrants, the first step toward legality under the bill is to apply for Registered Provisional Immigrant (RPI) status, which, if granted, would last 10 years, or five years for immigrants defined as “dreamers.” They would then spend three years as permanent residents with a Green Card before achieving naturalized citizenship after 13 years.

A yes vote was to pass the bipartisan bill.

Voting yes: Democrat Kay Hagan

Voting no: Republican Richard Burr

SOUTHERN BORDER SECURITY: Voting 69 for and 29 against, the Senate on June 26 amended S 744 (above) to further tighten the U.S.-Mexico border against illegal crossings. The amendment requires the government to build 700 miles of fencing on the nearly 2,000-mile border; double the number of Border Patrol agents there, to 40,000; deploy drone aircraft and blanket the border with thermal imaging, cameras and other surveillance. Costing $46 billion over ten years, these and other security steps would have to be completed before any undocumented immigrant could achieve permanent residency, a 10-year process.

A yes vote was to adopt the bipartisan amendment.

Voting yes: Hagan Voting no: Burr SECRETARY OF COMMERCE PRITZKER: Voting 97 for and one against, the Senate on June 25 confirmed Penny Pritzker as the nation’s 43rd secretary of commerce and third woman in the post. Pritzker, 54, heads investment and realty firms in Chicago and is a Democratic Party contributor and fund-raiser. Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., cast the negative vote on grounds Pritzker is out of tune with working families.

<p>Here's how North Carolina members of Congress voted on major issues in the week ending June 28.</p><p>House</p><p>OIL DRILLING, FINANCIAL RULES:</p><p>Voting 256 for and 171 against, the House on June 27 passed a Republican bill (HR 1613) to implement a Gulf of Mexico deepwaterdrilling treaty in a way that would exempt U.S. oil companies from transparency rules in the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial-regulation law. Those rules require companies to publicly disclose how much they pay the U.S. government or foreign governments for rights to extract oil, gas and minerals. They are included in a pact signed by the U.S. and Mexico in February 2012 to open 1.5 million acres spanning their nautical boundary in the western gulf to energy development. Sponsors of this bill said the rules could put U.S. oil firms at a disadvantage in their bidding for leases under the treaty, while opponents noted that Pemex, Mexico's stateowned oil company, will be subject to the same disclosure requirements.</p><p>A yes vote was to pass the GOP bill.</p><p>Voting yes: Republicans Renee Ellmers, Virginia Foxx, Howard Coble, Richard Hudson, Robert Pittenger, Patrick McHenry, Mark Meadows and George Holding, and Democrat Mike McIntyre Voting no: Democrats G.K. Butterfield, David Price and Melvin Watt, and Republican Walter Jones BP OIL-SPILL LESSONS: Voting 194 for and 232 against, the House on June 27 defeated a bid to ensure that safety lessons from the BP-Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 are applied to deepwater drilling in the western gulf that occurs under HR 1613 (above). This motion by Democrats also sought to require companies responsible for spills to pay all cleanup costs. The U.S.-Mexico treaty at the heat of the bill allows each nation to answer to its own environmental and safety laws. Some U.S. regulations already have been toughened in response to BP's spill of nearly five million barrels of oil into the gulf over 87 days three years ago, the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history.</p><p>A yes vote backed the Democratic motion.</p><p>Voting yes: Butterfield, Jones, Price, McIntyre, Watt Voting no: Ellmers, Foxx, Coble, Hudson, Pittenger, McHenry, Meadows, Holding EXPANDED OFFSHORE DRILLING: Voting 235 for and 186 against, the House on June 28 passed a bill (HR 2231) requiring expanded drilling in Outer Continental Shelf areas thought to have some of America's most promising oil and gas deposits, with nearby states receiving 37.5 percent of royalties paid to the Treasury. The bill also requires drilling in specific tracts offshore from Virginia and South Carolina and lifts longstanding federal bans on drilling in Alaska's Bristol Bay and offshore from Santa Barbara and Ventura counties in California. Depending on the state, the Outer Continental Shelf usually begins three-tonine nautical miles from shore and reaches outward for at least 200 nautical miles.</p><p>A yes vote was to send the bill to the Senate.</p><p>Voting yes: Ellmers, Jones, Foxx, McIntyre, Hudson, Pittenger, McHenry, Meadows, Holding Voting no: Butterfield, Price, Watt</p><p>Not voting: Coble GREAT LAKES DRILLING BAN: Voting 195 for and 225 against, the House on June 28 defeated a Democratic attempt to bar HR 2231 (above) from authorizing oil and gas drilling in the Great Lakes, which are comprised of lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, Erie and Ontario. Although the bill deals mainly with Outer Continental Shelf drilling and contains no mention of the Great Lakes, backers of this motion said it contains language sufficiently broad to lead to possible drilling in these inland waters.</p><p>A yes vote was to bar drilling in the Great Lakes.</p><p>Voting yes: Butterfield, Price, McIntyre, Watt</p><p>Voting no: Ellmers, Jones, Foxx, Hudson, Pittenger, McHenry, Meadows, Holding Not voting: Coble BRISTOL BAY MORATORIUM: Voting 183 for and 235 against, the House on June 28 defeated a bid to strip HR 2231 (above) of its mandate for oil and gas drilling in Bristol Bay on Alaska's southwest coast. The amendment sought to keep in force a moratorium imposed after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989. President Bush lifted the moratorium in 2007 and President Obama reinstated it in 2009. A yes vote was to retain the drilling moratorium.</p><p>Voting yes: Butterfield, Price, Watt</p><p>Voting no: Ellmers, Jones, Foxx, McIntyre, Hudson, Pittenger, McHenry, Meadows, Holding Not voting: Coble SANTA BARBARA MORATORIUM: Voting 176 for and 241 against, the House on June 28 defeated a bid to strip HR 2231 (above) of its language to lift a moratorium on oil and gas drilling offshore from Santa Barbara and Ventura counties in southern Californ1a. The ban was imposed after a major oil spill in that area in 1969.</p><p>A yes vote was to retain the drilling moratorium.</p><p>Voting yes: Butterfield, Price, Watt</p><p>Voting no: Ellmers, Jones, Foxx, McIntyre, Hudson, Pittenger, McHenry, Meadows, Holding Not voting: Coble Senate</p><p>IMMIGRATION OVERHAUL: Voting 68 for and 32 against, the Senate on June 27 sent the House a bill (S 744) that would create a 13-year route to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. by the end of 2011; surge law enforcement and electronic surveillance on the U.S.-Mexico border; tighten the Canadian border; crack down on foreign visitors who overstay their visas; require all states to adopt the E-Verify system by which employers check on the legality of new workers; streamline family visas to reduce backlogs in reuniting kin in the U.S.; establish new or streamlined employment visas for low-skilled and high-tech workers and create a new program for temporarily admitting 112,000 or more seasonal farm workers each year.</p><p>The Congressional Budget Office projects the bill would reduce deficits by $197 billion in the first 10 years, mainly due to fees, penalties and taxes such as Social Security withholding that immigrants would send to the Treasury while pursuing legal status..</p><p>For undocumented immigrants, the first step toward legality under the bill is to apply for Registered Provisional Immigrant (RPI) status, which, if granted, would last 10 years, or five years for immigrants defined as “dreamers.” They would then spend three years as permanent residents with a Green Card before achieving naturalized citizenship after 13 years.</p><p>A yes vote was to pass the bipartisan bill.</p><p>Voting yes: Democrat Kay Hagan</p><p>Voting no: Republican Richard Burr</p><p>SOUTHERN BORDER SECURITY: Voting 69 for and 29 against, the Senate on June 26 amended S 744 (above) to further tighten the U.S.-Mexico border against illegal crossings. The amendment requires the government to build 700 miles of fencing on the nearly 2,000-mile border; double the number of Border Patrol agents there, to 40,000; deploy drone aircraft and blanket the border with thermal imaging, cameras and other surveillance. Costing $46 billion over ten years, these and other security steps would have to be completed before any undocumented immigrant could achieve permanent residency, a 10-year process.</p><p>A yes vote was to adopt the bipartisan amendment.</p><p>Voting yes: Hagan Voting no: Burr SECRETARY OF COMMERCE PRITZKER: Voting 97 for and one against, the Senate on June 25 confirmed Penny Pritzker as the nation's 43rd secretary of commerce and third woman in the post. Pritzker, 54, heads investment and realty firms in Chicago and is a Democratic Party contributor and fund-raiser. Sen. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., cast the negative vote on grounds Pritzker is out of tune with working families.</p><p>A yes vote was to confirm Pritzker.</p><p>Voting yes: Hagan, Burr</p><p>A look ahead</p><p>Congress is in Independence Day recess until the week of July 8.</p>